


It's Okay to Not be Okay

by thundercracer



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Freezerburn - Freeform, just some good old fashioned comfort, not necessarily hurt/comfort but it's along those lines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 23:22:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17031888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thundercracer/pseuds/thundercracer
Summary: Freezerburn Week 2018 Day 6: AtlasWeiss doesn't want to go back to Atlas - we all know this. No one has really talked to her about it... Maybe Yang should try.





	It's Okay to Not be Okay

Yang knew Weiss was hesitant to go to Atlas. If anything, she was downright against it. She wasn’t so selfish as to protest it outright or to demand to not return, like she might have done so long ago. But Weiss was vocal about it. 

 

It was obvious that the ex-heiress was irritated that she’d put so much time and effort into leaving the damn place, and apparently risked her life to do so multiple times. Just for what? She was being forced to just… walk back to it. 

 

The group had even suggested using Weiss as bait. Yang couldn’t help but be a little insulted that Blake of all people would even insinuate such a thing. And, while she cracked a joke about ransom money to try and lighten the mood, she could tell the smaller girl was appalled. Weiss was sick of people making decisions for her. Sick of the expectations. Weary of not being addressed or informed. 

 

That was the entire reason the girl had left Atlas in the first place.

 

And… well, the entire group knew that Weiss’s father was  _ not  _ a kind man. Not by any means. They… didn’t really know how that affected Weiss, necessarily. They knew he was a monster to faunus; acting as a judge, torturer, and executioner to the entire race of people. But, Yang realized, none of them had ever really considered what this had meant for Weiss’ home life. 

 

Weiss had said it herself, all that time ago - increases in White Fang attacks had made for “a difficult childhood”. And that was something Weiss never really expanded on. Never gave them crap or said her life was harder than theirs, like Yang had tried to do. Never gave them context on what “a difficult childhood” meant for an heiress to the largest company in Remnant. 

 

Weiss had done something surprising for Yang, by opening up about her mother. Yang… knew her father had probably been a large issue. But she’d never stopped to consider that Weiss’ mother was also a concern. Yang hadn’t ever dealt with alcoholism aside from Qrow. And he was always still sober enough to properly help raise her and Ruby. It sounded like Weiss was all too familiar… 

 

She made it sound casual. And… normal. Something to be expected. Weiss didn’t talk about her father. She would make snide or offhand comments in agreement to things others would say. But she never supplied it herself. Never opened up about what skeletons  _ he _ was hiding, outside of the faunus. That was something in particular that Weiss was exceedingly vocal about. 

 

Yang didn’t know the first thing about Atlas. How oppressive it was. How… cold, and lonely the entire city would be. How blank and isolating it was as a city.

 

She’d always imagined it to be full of snotty rich people - which it was - but… it was so frigid. And, even surrounded by friends, she couldn’t fight off the feeling of being… alone, somehow. How did people grow up like this?

 

Yang had been raised in Patch. A bright, sunny little place. A tight-knit community, where the neighbors all knew each other. The kids of the place all gathered for stupid games and tomfoolery after school and on weekends. She’d had Ruby, Qrow, and her father. And even Summer, for a short while. 

 

Weiss understood that everyone had their own version of loneliness. Their own experiences and trials. Yang thought that was very mature of her. She hadn’t even realized how immature she’d been when Weiss had gone out of her way to check in on her.

 

If anything, Weiss was the only one who made such an effort to make sure everyone was doing okay. That  _ she  _ was okay. And… Yang was beginning to realize, no one was really doing that for Weiss. Not that she felt the heiress could blame them; with everything that had been happening. 

 

But… Weiss needed to be cared for too. 

 

Which is what she was running through her head, as Weiss situated herself for the night, on the opposite side of the room they were staying in. Yang still wasn’t super comfortable sharing a room with Blake, and expressed a desire to get closer to Weiss. So Ruby and Blake hesitantly agreed to share the room across the hall. 

 

“Hey, Weiss?” she called, voice low and gentle.

 

“Hmm?” She seemed distracted, but acknowledged Yang, letting her know that she’d heard.

 

“Are… you doing okay?”

 

This stopped the other girl in her tracks, pausing in the process of brushing out her long ivory hair. It shifted along her back as she glanced somewhat over her shoulder, looking at her impromptu roommate. Weiss’ scar somehow looked… and felt more prominent than ever. More significant. Usually a pale color that barely stood out from the paleness of her cheeks, it shone a deep maroon color in the lighting of the room.

 

“Should I not be?”

 

“I…” Yang felt her brow furrow. “I mean I don’t know. I… don’t know if I would be, in your situation. Like you said… It’s okay to not be okay, Weiss.”

 

Weiss sighed lightly, her shoulders sagging ever so slightly. 

 

“When you put it like that, Yang, it makes it hard for me to say ‘I’m alright’ and that you shouldn’t worry.”

 

“Should I be worried?”

 

Weiss turned to her fully. 

 

“Possibly. I certainly am.”

 

Yang shifted slightly. “About?”

 

“Well, I’m sure you could tell me plenty of things to be worried about right now. The relic thing is a pretty big one. Ozpin hiding things is another. Then there’s-”

 

“Weiss,” Yang knew what she was doing, “stop trying to distract me from you.”

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

“You… For someone who always used to wanna talk about yourself all the time, you sure don’t want to talk to people about your problems.”

 

Weiss had difficulty not looking a little shy at that. “I’m not the main concern here, Yang.”

 

Yang narrowed her eyes. “Yeah you are. Maybe not overall, since yeah. Salem is a huge problem. All that shit is a huge problem. But that doesn’t mean you’re not going through stuff and in this moment, right here and now, I’m asking you what’s wrong. So you’re my main concern. Right here. Right now.”

 

“Yang…”

 

“You’re always trying to make sure the rest of us are doing okay. Ever since that thing with Ruby’s leadership and even more after finding out about Blake, you’ve been taking care of everybody. You… I want to take care of you.”

 

Weiss huffed a delicate breath. “If you insist.” She crossed her hands in her lap. “I’ve told you of my mother and how empty the mansion was growing up. I told you that you guys are closer to me than my father or brother. That the only family I consider myself having is Winter. And… our relationship is somewhat estranged. I’m aware of it,” she added, seeing Yang’s questioning look.

 

“Sorry.”

 

“Don’t be. We grew up in an alienating environment. But we made do with what we had and with what circumstances we were born into. Our upbringing was rather… strict, for a lack of a better term. In fact, it was more like training than being raised.”

 

Yang couldn’t relate to that one bit. She’d had Raven, Qrow, Summer, and her father. And yet, none of them were strict people when it came to raising her. Training her was one thing, but none of them had ever been believers in tough love. Except Raven maybe, but Yang wasn’t sure the woman loved her. 

 

“I… was being conditioned to take on the company. I was treated like an adult from the womb and was expected to uphold the Schnee beliefs and traditions. Which I tried so hard to… But I met faunus. And… they weren’t anything like father brainwashed us into thinking they were.”

 

Weiss heaved a breath.

 

“You’re talking about Blake.”

 

“And Sun,” Weiss continued. “And Velvet. And Neon. And Illia. I’m still getting used to faunus not being what father promised. I imagined all faunus were the White Fang. That they were all like Adam.”

 

“Weiss…”

 

“My father keeps them as slaves. And he didn’t treat us much better. He encouraged us to hate people. To crush them. We were meant to look down on people and be treated with respect. We were royalty and… everyone else were mere commoners. Trash. Easily replaceable and thrown away. Turns out we Schnee aren’t any different, after all… Father disowned me without a second thought.”

 

“You don’t want to go back to Atlas because you’re afraid he’ll find you?”

 

“Partially. He… won’t keep me as head of the SDC. He’s aware that I’m… Oh how did he put it? ‘A faunus loving freak’, I believe it was. No, he won’t give me any rights or any freedom. He’ll keep me as a caged bird, so that I can’t spread his wrongdoings against the faunus. Which is really what he used to do before, but I was forced to do recitals as well.”

 

“Oh Weiss…” Yang opened up her arms, inviting Weiss over. For a moment, she realized that move might have been overstepping some boundaries, but was pleasantly surprised when Weiss stood and brought herself into Yang’s embrace. 

 

Yang felt something in her heart stir when she wrapped Weiss into her arms, pulling the much smaller girl into her lap.

 

“You’re not alone anymore, Weiss. We’ll all go to Atlas, make sure the relic is safe, and then maybe we can kick your dad’s ass. I have lots of plans.”

 

Weiss laughed lightly, causing her to shake somewhat in the strong arms she was entrapped in. “I suppose if anyone was going to be able to do it, it would be you.”

 

“Hey, you’re in this too Weiss,” Yang murmured. “Seriously. We’re gonna stop your dad. It’s just gotta be one step at a time. I know it’s important to look at the big picture, but we also need to take the puzzle one piece at a time, okay?”

 

“Alright, Yang.”

 

And the two of them felt that maybe the trip to Atlas wouldn’t go so bad after all. As long as they were all together, they would make it through this. 


End file.
